Chapter 391: Hungry and Ruthless

About four hours passed. Suddenly, Dandara spotted Priam returning on the horizon.

"What the fuck is this?! Boss, calm down! You went straight to first place, with two billion six hundred million kill points!" she shouted, her tone overflowing with frustration, but with a look of admiration that was impossible to hide.

Priam quickly checked the Ranking. Indeed, his name was shining at the absolute top, while second place was now occupied by that inscription disciple from the Western Region.

Once the initial surprise passed, Priam’s expression became serious.

In those few hours, he had consumed around 30% of the entire reserve of Destruction lightning he had stored. He couldn’t even estimate the number of enemies he had vaporized in the abyss.

The kill points awarded were based on the target’s combat power and threat level. He certainly hadn’t killed more enemies than the disciple who had been slaughtering them nonstop since the beginning.

This proved his suspicions. The gigantic leap in his score wasn’t due solely to the absurd number of kills, but rather to the fact that the creatures at the bottom of the portal were extremely terrifying—far superior to the Specters from the second eruption infesting the planet.

Priam let out a deep sigh.

Instantly taking first place wasn’t something he had expected; in fact, the feat had only put him on high alert.

"Boss, why did you stop? Keep massacring them!" Dandara said, with a slight smirk.

"You guys kill for me. You are the main force." Priam waved his hand, taking command. "Holy Sages, stop the attacks for now. Raise massive wooden fortifications farther back, designed for both defensive support and offensive assistance."

Priam gave the orders firmly, pointing toward more than twenty strategic points along the perimeter they were defending. This was one of the great advantages of having dominant Wood-element supports: the ability to erect tactical structures. Earth-element users possessed a similar power.

"Cousin, why bother with this?" Flaris and the generals asked, unable to understand. As long as they maintained their combat pace, containing and exterminating those Specters didn’t seem like a difficult task.

"It’s a precautionary measure, and also a safe escape route for the core disciples. Having something solid they can rely on is essential for maintaining their morale and safety," Priam replied in a solemn tone.

As soon as the fortifications were erected, Priam summoned Nise and taught her the offensive and defensive mechanics integrated into the structures, tasking her with gradually instructing the core disciples.

Dandara quickly approached as soon as he finished. "Boss, did something happen down there?"

"Nothing catastrophic... actually, we got really lucky." Priam looked at her calmly. "This Celestial Event we’re in will be one of the very few in history to trigger a third eruption."

Dandara’s expression changed drastically.

In billions of years of history, and thousands of editions of the Celestial Event, a third eruption had only been recorded eight times.

It was an extremely rare phenomenon, although understandable. The event occurred whenever an absurd density of Specters accumulated within the small dimensional world. But occasionally, some of these entities managed to absorb ancient treasures inside and break through their limits.

The existence of just one very powerful mutant Specter wasn’t enough to trigger the 3rd eruption—it wouldn’t even be able to break through the spatial barrier to the planet. On the other hand, if at least four of these anomalies emerged in the same era, the resonance of their powers could force the difficulty to a new level.

This level was known for bringing two lethal variants: exponentially stronger armies, and the presence of these commander generals.

That’s why Priam immediately understood the situation. When he massacred the horde in the portal, increasingly bizarre and powerful waves continued to emerge, reaching a level of strength that far surpassed the creatures infesting the surface.

He killed until a certain point, then stopped and left.

"What are we going to do?" Dandara murmured thoughtfully.

"When the eruption happens, leave the front line to me and focus only on accumulating points. But before that..." Priam wore an enigmatic smile.

"Let’s fish for some big ones. Before coming back, I took a quick look at the other sects; there are plenty of very ’kind’ people waiting for us to make a move."

"Oh?" Dandara’s eyes lit up with a mischievous glint.

...

Minutes passed as the carnage on the battlefield continued.

Amid the chaos, Flaris’s horns suddenly tingled, sending an eerie and uncomfortable vibration through them. Naturally occurring and extremely sensitive, her horns were capable of detecting subtle fluctuations that almost no one else could perceive.

She looked around with a serious expression, searching in every direction for the source of that anomaly. But she couldn’t find anything with the naked eye.

That’s when her eyes met Priam’s.

He was looking right back at her. With a slight, almost imperceptible nod, Priam confirmed what she suspected: he already knew.

A single exchange of glances was enough for her to understand that her Cousin was hunting. She sensed that he wanted her cooperation, and nodded back.

Without uttering a single word, Priam shot forward at high speed, cutting through the skies toward the endless tide of Specters.

"Everyone! Fall back! BOSS IS GOING TO ATTACK!" Flaris roared, making the entire army widen their eyes and hurriedly take several steps back.

Coming to a stop suspended in the air, Priam’s eyes shone with an imposing light as he spread his arms.

**BUZZ!**

Suddenly, an invisible wave locked reality in place. Everyone on the battlefield felt space itself freeze for a second before beginning to vibrate at a deafening frequency.

Involuntarily, everyone’s gazes were drawn upward, where Priam pulsed with a golden aura.

"Essence of Creation..." Nise murmured, holding her breath.

Until that moment, none of the Sages had been forced to burn such a valuable trump card. And Priam, who had barely fought on the front line until then, had just unleashed this power without the slightest hesitation!

The central sect disciples trembled with pure anticipation. Priam had only been gone for a few hours and returned at the absolute top of the ranking; now, they would finally witness the extent of his methods up close!

It took Priam only a few seconds to stabilize that colossal energy.

Then, he concentrated all the power into his fists, making the air around him crackle under the pressure.

"COME!"

Priam roared and launched himself forward, throwing a devastating punch.

The impact was so dense that it drained the color from the world itself for an instant—it was a pure and brutal manifestation of Essence of Creation being used to attack!

The disciples watched with their eyes shining with excitement. However...

At the exact millisecond the attack was launched, something abnormal happened.

*CRACK!*

Around the point where Priam was, thousands of spatial distortions emerged simultaneously, sealing off his path in every direction!

"WATCH OUT!" Nise roared, her face pale with terror.

In the blink of an eye, thousands of figures burst out from the rifts like deadly bolts of lightning.

"Assassins!"

All of them were elite Sages from various sects. They had been hidden in the shadows nearby for some time, simply waiting for the exact moment when Priam lowered his guard.

Each of those specialists advanced while wrapped in devastating electrical power, joining forces in a synchronized attack to annihilate him once and for all.

Priam had been surrounded by an omnidirectional bombardment. There was no way to defend against so many angles, and after expending all his Essence of Creation in a frontal strike, it was common knowledge that a Sage could never gather that energy back in time to try to save himself.

He was cornered.

However... Priam simply stopped in midair and flashed a cold smile.

"The net is full. Excellent."

His eyes shone with a different light, and then he activated his Spatial Lineage, easily piercing through space.

In a fraction of a second, his figure vanished, merging with the void as if he had never been there.

"!"

The thousands of attackers widened their eyes in utter shock and stopped in midair.

And at that very instant, their world plunged into absolute darkness.

*WOOOOOOOOSH!*

A colossal wave of Miasma crashed down upon them like a cosmic cage, swallowing all the assassins at once.

Kilometers away, Priam calmly reappeared, watching the gigantic purple dome of Miasma isolated on the horizon.

The feeling wasn’t that of having escaped an ambush, but rather that of having thrown a hungry and ruthless she-wolf straight into the middle of a flock of fat sheep.